Kester's WWE Raw Rundown: Brock Lesnar returns, The Rock celebrates his championship win, and Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho renew their feud

By Ryan Kester

Brock Lesnar

I had a feeling Lesnar would be making his return sooner rather than later simply because this is the time of year that WWE likes to get viewers thinking that Raw is can't miss television, and they'd want some huge surprise to follow up the Rumble PPV. It's a good thing they did because Lesnar's reveal was one of the few things that gave the show that Road to WrestleMania feel.

Paul Heyman deserves a special mention for his acting last night. He's done consistently great work since his initial return alongside Lesnar, and the way he sold his frustration and apprehension over Lesnar attacking McMahon made Lesnar look like an absolute beast.

The Rock, CM Punk, and John Cena

The build towards Elimination Chamber was done well last night and was one of the few things about the show that was worth remembering. No matter where you fall on the decision to move the title off of Punk, these two have a great chemistry together, and Punk got to show a fire he wouldn't have if he was still the WWE Champion.

My previous hopes were to see a triple threat at WrestleMania just so we didn't get a rehash of last year's bad build for the Cena vs. Rock showdown. That doesn't appear to be the direction WWE wants to go in based on Cena's promo, unfortunately.

Cena did well enough, but be overplayed the odds against him to the point that it could almost come off as insulting to the audience, and he really buried the World Heavyweight Championship by declaring that it would be so much easier for him to go after that strap.

Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho

I am excited to see this feud return. Ziggler is right on the cusp of breaking into the main event, and with a solid win against Chris Jericho on the big stage of WrestleMania, he could very well cem3nt his place at the top of the roster.

Ziggler needs this feud to help him get his heat back. He was defeated far too many times in far too convincing of fashion when he was paired with Cena. Jericho did wonders for Ziggler before, and he did a lot for Punk before then, so I expect we'll be getting more of Jericho helping to elevate the current roster. It couldn't come at a better time for Ziggler.

Overall Show

Last night's show was ok at best, outright bad at worst. WWE needs to abandon the roulette gimmick; it consistently delivers groan-worthy segments and throwaway matches. WWE is knee deep in the Road to WrestleMania hype. It's time they stopped the shenanigans and started making this feel like their biggest season of the year.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter.